Sundays have been getting me down.
Once filled with so much promise – walks in the park, breakfast and fat newspapers – recent Sundays have found me shaking my head in disgust at those fat newspapers I love so much.
Over the last three weeks, Mike Lupica – the lead sports columnist at the Daily News – has pointlessly beaten up Roger Clemens – the greatest pitcher of his generation – once, and Barry Bonds – the greatest hitter of his generation – twice.
Lupica or someone at the Daily News must have noticed this, too. The second Bonds column was pulled in later editions and replaced with an equally pointless column about Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez that looked to have taken all of 10 minutes to write.
And that’s the point.
Lupica – long considered the greatest sports columnist of his generation – clearly spends little time on his newspaper work these days. But, like Darryl Strawberry, he once had so much promise.
When Lupica was starting out at the New York Post, I thought he was going to be great, maybe another Red Smith. He developed his voice at the Daily News, and was at the top of his game when he went to The National Sports Daily, which tried to revolutionize sports journalism.
The revolution failed and somewhere on his way back to the Daily News, Lupica started to lose it. Not his voice or his talent, but his humanity. He no longer seems to care about the games, the players and the people they touch.
Maybe he’s too busy as a book author, radio guest and television personality.
But on Sundays I don’t need a celebrity, just a sports columnist.
I want my Red Smith.
Once filled with so much promise – walks in the park, breakfast and fat newspapers – recent Sundays have found me shaking my head in disgust at those fat newspapers I love so much.
Over the last three weeks, Mike Lupica – the lead sports columnist at the Daily News – has pointlessly beaten up Roger Clemens – the greatest pitcher of his generation – once, and Barry Bonds – the greatest hitter of his generation – twice.
Lupica or someone at the Daily News must have noticed this, too. The second Bonds column was pulled in later editions and replaced with an equally pointless column about Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez that looked to have taken all of 10 minutes to write.
And that’s the point.
Lupica – long considered the greatest sports columnist of his generation – clearly spends little time on his newspaper work these days. But, like Darryl Strawberry, he once had so much promise.
When Lupica was starting out at the New York Post, I thought he was going to be great, maybe another Red Smith. He developed his voice at the Daily News, and was at the top of his game when he went to The National Sports Daily, which tried to revolutionize sports journalism.
The revolution failed and somewhere on his way back to the Daily News, Lupica started to lose it. Not his voice or his talent, but his humanity. He no longer seems to care about the games, the players and the people they touch.
Maybe he’s too busy as a book author, radio guest and television personality.
But on Sundays I don’t need a celebrity, just a sports columnist.
I want my Red Smith.
2 comments:
I agree! Lupica is just a talking head now.
Nice site and keep up the good writing. I added you to my Yankee blogs and my rss feed.
Later,
JMM
mybaseballbias.com
I wish Mike would concentrate on his newspaper work. He was great once and could be again.
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